A microfiche Appendix containing two microfiche and 152 frames was submitted as part of this application.
This invention relates to data processing by computer, and in particular relates to a computer application program for a system of file maintenance that is adaptable to small office computers such as the class of computers generally known as personal computers. The program is also useable on mini and mainframe computers for managing large record systems of hospitals or public agencies.
This invention is especially useful for client or patient records that must be constantly updated with narrative dictations as well as more easily classifiable data such as prescriptions and laboratory results. The file maintenance system is structured with data files with each file having a record set with the records in the set having fields for lodging specific information with some fields being of a hybrid-type allowing periodic amendment by deleting part of, or adding to, existing data without reentry of the existing data. In this manner the file structure is ideally suited for situations where long narratives must be broken-up into select categories and added or spliced into existing categorical report records.
The structure of the file system includes conventional field-defined data such as name, address, and telephone number which are ideally suited to conventional, field-defined records, where updated information wholly replaces existing information. The file maintenance system also includes the hybrid fields which allows lengthy narratives to be included as field data in a word processing style format. Adding, deleting or changing sentences, sections or words is accomplished in the same manner a word processed document is edited.
Previous record generator and maintenance programs are ineffective in handling records that include narrative reports as well as form-style data, particularly where amendments to the narrative reports must be added or spliced into existing data strings.
There are two basic types of computer programs that are in common use in the modern micro and mini computers. The first and most common is a program that stores, retrieves and processes the stored information. These programs use files that are commonly called data files. Data files usually have user defined names and normally are either of a fixed record length or dynamically allocated. Each record in a file will usually consist of one or more fields each one of a specific character length or separated typically by a comma. The size of these records are usually controlled either by the size of each field or the record length specified in the program. This is done to conserve space in the computer storage area particularly when many thousands of records are needed and where searching and sorting of files is required. The smaller the record the faster data can be accessed.
The above type of data file is used to store information such as customer records giving the names, address, and phone numbers etc. for each customer. Each field of this record can be either an alphanumeric string or a numeric field consisting of a real or integer number, or both.
When a user accesses a particular file and reads a certain record the user can display the contents of that record on the screen or print it with a printer. If necessary, the data in each of these fields can be changed by reentering data in a particular field and printing the fields back into the same record. The difficulty is, the user must retype the entire field to make the changes. The user cannot just edit or change one or more individual characters to obtain the desired effect of an amendment or correction.
The second type of program that is extensively used is called a word processor. This program is used to produce printed documents such as a letter. It produces a finished document that has all of the attributes such as margin control, indents paragraphs, file formats etc., all specified by the operator. There are many different programs of this type available and there are many features available.
A word processor program basically provides a record for each document in which the name of this document is user defined. The record generally consists of one field which can be of indeterminate length, with some practical limits. The information in this field is treated as one string, and characters are added or deleted as required to create a finished or correct document.
All control characters required by the program are embedded in this field and do not show in the printed text.
In a word processor system information in a particular document is not available except when a document is searched for a particular word. Except for header information, word processor files cannot be readily used for data processing.
The present invention is a program that utilizes data files but allows the reading of a particular record or combination of records in a file and allows the reader to make changes and corrections in an existing record. These records have report fields that are sufficiently large to make it impractical to retype the entire record as in a standard field defined record. Specifically, we make reference to a medical and dental records system where each record can be a categorical report several pages long. While the term, report, has special meaning in computer parlance, applicant here uses the term in its more general sense as a detailed account or statement.
The records in the system include category and date information plus other methods of differentiation from one to the other, permitting each information record to be sorted, retrieved, printed and corrected all in the same program. All of this takes place in the same file in a multi-file, records keeping system.
This program allows one to store large files in a data file environment yet one can manipulate the records in the files as required, using a word processor or editor environment on large, hybrid fields or, for certain formatted records, data reentry in standard fields for limited data entry.